Student Resources

Senior Independent Study Tools

Java Development Tools

Tools Recommended by the Department

BlueJ is a simple tool used for our early programming courses. While at a glance it appears
to have limited capabilities, it is actually quite robust, and is an easy place to
start learning Java.

Eclipse is a full featured IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for any platform.

Java Development Kit (JDK) is mandatory for all Java programming. It must be installed to run any applications
listed on this page.

Other Tools

Many Java development tools can be found free on the web. Below is a list of software
downloads that may be useful to a Java programming student.

The JDK Bundled with Netbeans is a good choice for the impatient. While the versatility of the Eclipse environment
makes it superior to Netbeans, the convenience of this one-click installation package
will have you writing and compiling Java programs in minutes.

Borland Builder is a very popular tool in the market. There is a free version available, Turbo JBuilder.
It is a fairly standard Java IDE.

Tools Recommended by the Department

The Eclipse download section includes mingw, which is a port of gcc for Windows. Note that it is not exactly gcc, as it is not
published under the Gnu General Public License. If you install it, however, you won't
be able to tell the difference, and you won't have to bother with Cygwin to run a
gcc compiler.

You may also be interested in the gcc project - a command line tool that might be the best available compiler for C++ (and it's
free!).

Documentation and References

Communications of the ACM: If you read no other journal, and use no other articles in your research, you should
go here. This service is provided by the College through their affiliation with OhioLink.

Safari Books Online: This online library contains a majority of the O'Reilly collection and some other
useful technology references as well. A must-see library provided free from the College.